SportingNews.com: Should The NFL Care About Marijuana?

Posted by Mike Florio on April 20, 2009, 12:05 PM EDT

When we were plotting our Monday item for SportingNews.com, we weren’t thinking that the story would be posted on April 20.
It was, instead, a one-in-365 coincidence that we submitted for publication on 4/20 a column regarding whether the NFL should care about marijuana use by its players.
The full item is right here.

In a roundabout way, then, it makes sense to test incoming players. Not to find out whether they smoke pot, but to find out whether they’re smart enough to show up for the Combine without pot in their urine.
Exactly! If Singletary is going to ask about your parents divorce, you can bet most teams would still drug test even if the athletes stop getting tested at the combine.
A drug test is basically a measure of your common sense, seeing as anyone who knew they were going to test positive would likely reschedule. Or come to the test prepared.

Considering how the NFL players are role models for potentially millions of kids, they have to outwardly show it. Internally do they? probably not. But at this point in time, marijuana is illegal, so they at least need to pretend they care.

I agree that marijuana isn’t such a big deal but i do somewhat understand the reason for the tests. I don’t think it’s so much the actual drug (they just screen for all of them im sure marijuana is the least of their worries), but they want to get into the head of a player to see his discipline.

it’s a touchy subject… i don’t care if they go home and light a fat one up after what most of them go through on the field. number one pain killer with the least amount of side effects. But it is illegal and don’t really want the little ones watchin to think smoking weed will get them to the pros. It being illegal is the biggest problem; but imagine if it was legal. SoOoO many of these guys would be out in public getting stoned, and legal or not legal that’s just not an image any owner wants on his team.

Banning athletes for smoking Pot is a joke. Its a harmless drug far less dangerous than liquor. Who cares, I mean Michael Phelps takes a bong hit and Kellogs drops him. What? Do they really think think that no one who gets high ever craves a bowl of Corn Flakes? What better reasons are there to eat Cereal other than when you are high?

Let me precursor this by saying I think it should be legal, and feel it would ultimately prove to be a great income source for the government. It’s just not that big a deal and alcohol is far worse in my mind.
That said, so long as it’s illegal to purchase, distribute and possess, the league should care. The NFL sets an example to kids, and ignoring marijuana use while it remains illegal would be sending the wrong message.

4theloveofthegame- What exactly is this image you have of guys “out in public getting stoned?” Smoking pot isn’t anything like drinking or doing coke. In most cases, I’m sure owners would much rather see pictures of their players doing “stoned things” over shots of them hammered with a bottle of Grey Goose and a bunch of shirtless men.

Phelps: smoked weed, became the “greatest olympian” of all time
Ricky Williams: smoked weed and still tore it up on the field before his suspension
Mario Chalmers and the rest of the ’08 KU Champions: smoked weed and, well, was cool enough to hit one of the biggest shots of his career.
The problem with this is these athletes are smoking weed and their performance isn’t hindured because of it. Parents must think their kids, who look up to these athletes, see this and think “Oh, they smoke and are still top-tier performers”. I’m almost 100% sure that these franchises know their athletes are smoking. It’s not until they get caught and the media jumps all over the story, when they’ll pretend to really care. I blame the media for all this. They need to quit putting out these BS anti-pot commercials filled with half-baked lies and just admit to the real truths about the plant:
If you smoke, you’ll get really hungry and you won’t accomplish a whole lot that day except for upping your rank in Call of Duty: World at War.

from a right vs. wrong standpoint, i’d say who cares if an NFL player hits the bong in their spare time.
But, just like with any other when you’re in public, you’re an ambassador for yourself, your team, and the sport itself so you need to carry yourself in a way that’s acceptable to the general public so to speak (and unless weed smoking becomes legalized, I don’t see it becoming a politically correct activity anytime soon). Michael Phelps was a prime example of a big-time athlete not realizing the significance of their actions and then facing the harsh reality of the fact that when you’re a star all eyes are on you.
It really all comes down to social acceptance and perception. The general perception of athletes tends to be that they are role models who stay away from mind altering substances such as marijuana (a perception that is completely 180 degrees from what we think of say, famous musicians).
When Randy Moss or Mike Vick come out and say they’ve smoked weed, they are branded as potheads or druggies
When Carlos Santana tells Obama to legalize weed, he’s considered to just be speaking his mind and arguing for what he believes in.

The gov’t could tax it for massive profit. They could eliminate a high number of non-violent offenders who are placed in gen pop with rapists and murderers. It would cut down on drug-related crime by eliminating penalties for one of the most commonly used illegal substances. Even renowned conservative economist Milton Friedman said it was a no-brainer.
Where are my Funyuns?

Yes, but they should worry about them abusing it, like any other substance, but it is a great pain control medication and in this sport they need to control those aches
if i was a head coach i wouldnt let them use in season

As long as tree is illegal, you have to test for it. Most other contract jobs (I work in Information Technology) already have mandatory testing.
Personally, tree is my drug of choice. Booze makes me sick. Maybe recreational use of tree will be legal, but I doubt any time soon.

Marijuana is an effective pain reliever and it helps to increase a person’s appetite. Sounds like something that the NFL would want to encourage if you ask me.
Just keep it away from LenWhale White, because he doesn’t need anything increasing his appetite.

Should the NFL worry because players “use” it? No. Should the NFL worry that players think they can hide or get away with anything? Yes.
Even if it were legalized, teams would probably still test for it and discourage it, much like some employers that test for nicotine. “It’s legal but it’s against company policy” kind of thing.
With these tests coming at the combine every year, a player has no excuses. By testing positive here, they are either saying they are too stupid to know better, too stupid to fake it, or that they don’t care enough. All are serious red flags.

I think that everyone here is forgetting that football is the players JOB not a fun weekend game. I must be tested to maintain my job, as i am sure that most of you that work do as well, so there shouldnt be any special treatment for them just because their job is televised and mine isn’t!!

Stop with the “I get tested to work at XYZ” crap! The ONLY reason you get tested is because the drug is illegal, yet the world knows we have so many smokers. If the drug were legal, I bet half of all companies wouldn’t even test! They want to know if you are going to be serious and perform your job, not come to work stoned all day. I have owned my own business for 5 years and I smoke, my employees partake and the business runs well (wireless business – Go Sprint!). People that worry about this drug are the people who have never used (no, not tried it, used it) and have no idea that someone can smoke after work and still be the CEO the next morning. It’s 2009 ……… grow up and tell everyone the truth: Marijuana cannot become legal until the tobacco companies are willing.

It’s always easy to tell the tokers and users in these sorts of discussions, isn’t it?….I don’t think the concept was “should dope be legal?”, but “should the NFL care about it?”
-The answer is of course yes. Until the law gets changed-the NFL has a perfect right to test and enforce it’s rules.
Why is it such an issue–first the NFL has a bad enough image the way it is-if they don’t at least make a ‘token’ ( pun intended) effort they will induce such bad PR that the league would suffer because of it.
The other reasons are manifold. Can you see a player who gets into the drug dealers for substantial money?? The game’s integrity might go out the window–just like in the Vick case-a guy willing to risk millions to take part in some small-time illegal activity is indeed a gateway to the criminals who would indeed like to be able to have even more influence on games’ outcomes….
Then of course-one has to question the intelligence of someone who tokes up KNOWING that everyone is going to get tested and that if caught it’s going to cost him MILLIONS of dollars (or maybe he’s already so brain-damaged that doesn’t mean anything to him…)-I’m pretty sure that Percy wasn’t planning on making any sort of NORML-based or any other sort of political statement when he lit up, do ya think? Maybe he just has enough problem with authority and authority figures (read–coaches) that he just doesn’t care what they say, he’s going to do it HIS way. How about his teammates? Just how can they believe in or count on him? He’s as likely to be arrested or suspended or stoned (and yes, it sadly does affect performance-no matter what you stoners say) as not. I’m not so sure I’d want MY million-dollar career depending on the whims of a guy so selfish and short-sighted he can’t avoid smokin’ dope for a few months out of the year……
So, in MY humble opinion-yes, indeed, the NFL should care about the drug test the people THEY employ as free-will workers under stringent conditions take..it’s not for nothing, you know